Library Spotlights

Countdown to Battle of the Books 2019 District Elementary Competition

February 2019Josh Whiting

The Granite District competition for 5th-6th Grade Battle of the Books teams is coming up on March 14, 2019, from 5:30-7:30 P.M. at Jim Bridger Elementary.

Our @LibraryMediaGSD Twitter account is counting down to the event with daily tweets featuring videos and other information about the competition, the participants, the books, and more. The countdown tweets are also being gathered into a Twitter Moment, which you can view right on this page:

#GSDEdTech and #GSDLibraries Social Media Round Up: January 2019

February 2019Josh Whiting

Exciting things are happening every day in classrooms, libraries, labs, and makerspaces throughout Granite School District, and a few of these learning activities are shared on social media. We’re going to highlight activities from January involving the Educational Technology Department by rounding up social media posts shared by those who participated.

From Granite Media: Best Books of 2018

January 2019Josh Whiting

Update 1/29/2019: ALA Youth Media Award Winners Added

On Granitemedia.org, our sister site where we focus on library resources and book reviews written by Granite students and staff, we are collecting links to lists of the “Best Books of 2018” and award winners. These lists come from professional library publications, teacher organizations, and general news organizations. We even have a few Granite-specific lists. School library staff use them to find more great books to add to library collections and recommend to students. You can check out the collection of lists as it currently stands below, but we will continue to update the post at http://bestbooks.edtech.fun throughout the season as more awards are announced or come to our attention. No matter your interests or focus you’re sure to find some new books for your “to-read” list.

Upcoming Event: 2019 District Battle of the Books Competition

As we begin to prepare for our school scrimmages and competitions, here is a look at some of the progress we have made with our Battle of the Books program this school year.

Students who want to participate in team competitions need to have read and passed off at least five books on their list by January 31, 2019. Students who have read five books are also eligible for special prizes and rewards. The district’s big annual prize drawing is done right before Winter Break and prizes are delivered to students and staff members at participating elementary schools. Check out some of the winners for this school year below!

Our District Battle of the Books competition will take place on Thursday, March 14 from 5:00 PM-7:30 PM at Jim Bridger Elementary. 5th and 6th graders will compete as teams in a family feud style competition that will test their knowledge of the 15 books on our list. If your school is interested in participating in the program for next year, but not exactly sure how it works, watching battles at our district competition is a really good way to get a sense of how it all works. Here is a quick breakdown of the sequence of events for that evening:

2018-2019 Elementary Library Theme and Design Challenge: Ubuntu

As a theme for the 2018-2019 school year, Granite elementary libraries are focusing on the ubuntu philosophy in libraries by teaching and modeling four core principles. They are,

Be curious

Be considerate of the needs of others

Create a reading community

Leave the library better than you found it

Media clerks invited students to participate in a library poster design challenge by creating illustrations for each of the four principles. We received 1,668 entries from across the district. Congratulations to our design challenge winners, whose names and artworks are shown below. Each of the four winners will get to pick out $250 worth of books for their school library and have their design featured on our Ubuntu poster that will be hung up in all 63 of our elementary school libraries. [Read more…] about 2018-2019 Elementary Library Theme and Design Challenge: Ubuntu

2018 Student Bookmark Designs from Valley Crest Elementary

July 2018Josh Whiting

Every year for the past several years, students at Valley Crest Elementary engage in a bookmark design contest to encourage reading. The winning bookmarks are printed and distributed to students in the school. Jenny Wadsworth, media clerk at Valley Crest Elementary, agreed that more people should have the chance to see these cute bookmarks, and she kindly shared them with us to share with you.

Download a printable PDF version of the bookmarks here. We’ve also shared all of the bookmarks on Pinterest in this Library Posters and Graphics Board. The student artist names are noted in the PDF version and in the file names of the images shared above.

Thank you to Jenny Wadsworth for managing this contest each year and sharing these bookmarks with us, in addition to the many other things she does to promote a culture of reading at her school.

Bonus: Prior Year Bookmark Sets

This contest has been going for several years and printable files still exist for some of the other years, so we are sharing/archiving them below.

Book List: Granite Elementary Library Picks of 2017-2018

May 2018Josh Whiting

Library staff from Granite’s 63 elementary schools gathered last week for an end-of-year training meeting. In one of the sessions, each media clerk shared a “must-have” title for students at their library, or a favorite book to read aloud or book talk from the 2017-2018 school year. We’ve compiled these suggestions in the Google doc embedded below. You’ll find many great books to share with young people and enjoy yourself. [Read more…] about Book List: Granite Elementary Library Picks of 2017-2018

2018-2019 Granite Battle of the Books 5th-6th Grade Book List

Upcoming Event: 2018-2019 Informational Meeting

If you are interested in participating in Battle of the Books in the 2018-2019 school year as a school administrator, teacher, media clerk, or PTA member, you are invited to attend this informational meeting. You will be provided with an overview of the program and learn the basics of the competition.

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Granite School District prohibits discrimination, harassment (including sexual harassment), or retaliation on the basis of race, color, sex, pregnancy, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other legally protected classification in all educational programs, activities, admissions, access, treatment, or employment practices and provides equal access to scouting groups and other designated youth groups. Related inquiries and complaints may be directed to a school administrator or to Charlene Lui, Director of Educational Equity, (385) 646-7413. You may also contact the Office for Civil Rights, Denver, CO, (303) 844-5695.
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